Today’s links Occupy the Democratic National Committee: A deliberately weak institution that has failed us again and again. Picks and Shovels Chapter One (Part 2): Meet the women of Computing Freedom. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2020, 2024 Upcoming appearances: Where to find me. Recent appearances: Where I’ve been. Latest books: You keep readin’ em, I’ll keep writin’ ’em. Upcoming books: Like I said, I’ll keep writin’ ’em. Colophon: All the rest. Occupy the Democratic National Committee (permalink) Back in 2017, the Democratic National Committee’s lawyers submitted a legal brief that didn’t just say the quiet part out loud; they bellowed it: “[The DNC can] go into back rooms like they used to and smoke cigars and pick the [presidential] candidate that way”: https://observer.com/2017/05/dnc-lawsuit-presidential-primaries-bernie-sanders-supporters/ The brief was submitted in the lawsuit between Bernie Sanders and the DNC. Sanders sued over the DNC changing the rules midway through 2016 process in order to sideline him and give the nomination to Hillary Clinton. The DNC’s response boiled down to, “Sure, we cheated. So what? We, the committee, are ultimately answerable only to ourselves, and we can choose anyone to lead the party into any election.” The DNC is a weak institution, in other words. There’s a universe in which that would be OK. After all, there’s a lot of overhead that comes with making strong institutions, all those checks and balances and oversight and transparency soak up resources that you could be using to…Pluralistic: Occupy the Democratic National Committee; Picks and Shovels Chapter One (Part 2) (10 Jan 2025)